How do you guys record doubletracks - guitars? Do you record the same amp, same guitar same settings on the head for each respective part, or do you switch gear? Normally, I record my basic part through my rig, like Strat + Mesa, then the other guitar player records his through his rig, Fender + Marshall, and then we might change something, like use a different head or cab, and I would do doubletracks of both parts with another guitar, like LP + Mesa..
How do you do it?
Double tracking - gear..
2I haven't messed around with doubling guitars a whole ton in the past. But when the Chrome Robes just recorded recently, we went nuts with this...
For tracking the bass parts and baritone parts, we used four mics on each... three different mics going for a close-mic sound, and one mic going for more of a room sound kinda thing. With the bass, he plays through a single amp and a single cab. But for my baritone, I play through two amps at the same time, each with their own cab.
Then, for some songs, we doubled the bass or baritone using the exact same setup, so then there were 8 tracks of each, 6 close mics and 2 room mics.
And then after that I played all my baritone parts on a totally different setup, a guitar detuned 7 frets, into a different setup of amps. We only used 3 mics when recording that setup.
Mixing that down is awesome, if you're into micro-managing stuff. The thing that we were trying for, and I think we got, was the ability to blend different amounts of the different mics on each instrument to control the sound and texture of the instrument without using so much EQ. One mic pics up the low end really well, another picks up the midrange, etc.
You can always mute or even delete all these tracks, and just have one mic for bass and one mic for baritone. But that doesn't sound half as good, I don't think.
For tracking the bass parts and baritone parts, we used four mics on each... three different mics going for a close-mic sound, and one mic going for more of a room sound kinda thing. With the bass, he plays through a single amp and a single cab. But for my baritone, I play through two amps at the same time, each with their own cab.
Then, for some songs, we doubled the bass or baritone using the exact same setup, so then there were 8 tracks of each, 6 close mics and 2 room mics.
And then after that I played all my baritone parts on a totally different setup, a guitar detuned 7 frets, into a different setup of amps. We only used 3 mics when recording that setup.
Mixing that down is awesome, if you're into micro-managing stuff. The thing that we were trying for, and I think we got, was the ability to blend different amounts of the different mics on each instrument to control the sound and texture of the instrument without using so much EQ. One mic pics up the low end really well, another picks up the midrange, etc.
You can always mute or even delete all these tracks, and just have one mic for bass and one mic for baritone. But that doesn't sound half as good, I don't think.
"The bastards have landed"
www.myspace.com/thechromerobes - now has a couple songs from the new album
www.myspace.com/thechromerobes - now has a couple songs from the new album
Double tracking - gear..
3I'm not an awesome engineer, by any means, but...one way I approach this, effectively, is to put two different mics on a single rig. When I mix down, I pan one microphone track hard left and the other hard right. Not perhaps the double-tracked sound you might be looking for, but surprisingly effective at getting a full and interesting guitar tone out of one live performance (my usual focus).
Double tracking - gear..
4Depends on where I'm panning the guitars in the mix. If I'm using two mics on each cabinet:
If I'm leaving the two guitar parts near the center I tend to make their tone differenticate more. I'll move the mics around alittle, maybe adjust some eq setting on the amp.
If each part is getting panned hard left and right, I usually leave the mics in place, slighty adjust some amp eq, and just blend the mics differently. Or I use just one mic of the first part for left and just the other other mic of the overdub for the right side with the same amp settings.
If I'm leaving the two guitar parts near the center I tend to make their tone differenticate more. I'll move the mics around alittle, maybe adjust some eq setting on the amp.
If each part is getting panned hard left and right, I usually leave the mics in place, slighty adjust some amp eq, and just blend the mics differently. Or I use just one mic of the first part for left and just the other other mic of the overdub for the right side with the same amp settings.
"That man is a head taller than me.
...That may change."
...That may change."
Double tracking - gear..
5i'm addicted to double tracking!
if one guitarist doubles up both sides with the same set up, it can sound phase-y (due to the slight timing differences). i like each side to sound different, but not too different.. such as a clean strat on one side and death metal on the other or something. using different guitars through the same rig is cool because not only do you get the character of each guitar, the intonation differences can create a subtle harmonic effect.
one thing to consider when doubling is to listen to everything as a whole before you start recording. if you make each guitar sound huge by itself.. say, you have a condenser + dynamic right up on the speakers and a delayed room mic opposite panned.. it'll go to dogshit city when you double it.
p.s. if you're recording a lot of single string riffing, try tuning one side slightly flat. it can sound really cool.
p.p.s. if you want the guitars to sound more separated, try bussing them through a stereo compressor.
EDIT: oh shit, you mean you are doubling the double tracks??
if one guitarist doubles up both sides with the same set up, it can sound phase-y (due to the slight timing differences). i like each side to sound different, but not too different.. such as a clean strat on one side and death metal on the other or something. using different guitars through the same rig is cool because not only do you get the character of each guitar, the intonation differences can create a subtle harmonic effect.
one thing to consider when doubling is to listen to everything as a whole before you start recording. if you make each guitar sound huge by itself.. say, you have a condenser + dynamic right up on the speakers and a delayed room mic opposite panned.. it'll go to dogshit city when you double it.
p.s. if you're recording a lot of single string riffing, try tuning one side slightly flat. it can sound really cool.
p.p.s. if you want the guitars to sound more separated, try bussing them through a stereo compressor.
EDIT: oh shit, you mean you are doubling the double tracks??
Double tracking - gear..
6LOL
well, yep, sometimes we do. i heard stories about metallica and smashing pumpkins having like 8 doubled guitars at mixdown.
there are two guitars in our band, and what we, is when all basic parts are layed, we double each one. and normally it's 2-3 mics on each guitar, 57/421 + condenser. all the doubletracking sometimes makes guitars sound huge, sometimes - just homogenous, which should not be confused with homosexual.. anyway, i think we'll stick to our standard scheme so far.
well, yep, sometimes we do. i heard stories about metallica and smashing pumpkins having like 8 doubled guitars at mixdown.
there are two guitars in our band, and what we, is when all basic parts are layed, we double each one. and normally it's 2-3 mics on each guitar, 57/421 + condenser. all the doubletracking sometimes makes guitars sound huge, sometimes - just homogenous, which should not be confused with homosexual.. anyway, i think we'll stick to our standard scheme so far.